Discover masterpieces of prehistoric art from around the world at the musée de l’Homme of Paris from November 16.

90 original prehistoric pieces

Famous Venuses, unmissable frescoes from Lascaux and Chauvet, and much more… The exhibition presents more than 90 original prehistoric pieces and hundreds of digital images of paintings and engravings. Contemplation of physical prehistoric art works and audiovisual and digital immersion in the world of parietal and rock art, Arts and Prehistory offers a unique opportunity to travel to time immemorial. Far from simple figurative and isolated accidents, the exhibition reveals an unsuspected diversity of art forms and expressions. This fundamental chapter in the history of art has never ceased to inspire modern and contemporary artists.

prehistoric art : Collections from around the world

Works by Louise Bourgeois, Brassaï or even Yves Klein will thus be presented in the light of this prehistoric light. The first space of the exhibition is devoted to portable art. Discover dozens of sculpted, engraved or painted objects that accompanied our ancestors in their nomadic life. Paleolithic Venus, decorated tools, sexual representations, carved animals, in ivory, rock, bone, reindeer or deer antlers…. Original pieces from different European collections are presented here. Some are among the oldest (- 40,000 to – 35,000 years) found to date. Key objects from the collections of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, such as the Venus of Lespugue, the impudic Venus of Laugerie-Basse, the thruster with facing ibexes from Enlène, the mammoth of La Madeleine, etc. stand alongside exceptional loans, such as the Venus de Laussel or the so-called « radiant Aurochs » brochure, unveiled for the first time to the public.

An immersion in parietal and rock art

A second space offers an immersion in parietal and rock art from around the world! In a cozy atmosphere, a digital space invites you to contemplate the abundance of works that adorn the walls and rocks of all continents. From the narrow caves of the Dordogne to the dizzying Chinese cliffs, from the Indonesian islands to the canyons of Utah, from the Spanish caves to the Australian rock shelters… Come and decipher the plurality of styles, the range of tools used and the diversity of animals and signs represented. Fascinating sites are revealed, such as that of Sulawesi, in Borneo, where some of the oldest known figurative paintings (45,000 years old) have recently been discovered or Foz Côa, in Portugal, which spreads its rock engravings over more than 20 km of valley .

Arts and Prehistory From November 16, 2022 to May 22, 2023

Musée de l’Homme

17 Place du Trocadéro

75016 Paris